Harford has written for the Financial Times and hosts the excellent BBC Podcast on statistics in current Affairs, “More or Less”. How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers (2020) by Tim Harford is a book about how to interpret the myriad of statistics that now abound in the news. And the best bit? This book makes it fun! Sounds like what the Ancient One promised Dr Strange? Being a data detective is just as wonderful, but the "magic" at work is the power of reason and clear-sightedness that is within the grasp of us all. Guided by the example of statistical heroes like Florence Nightingale and Hans Rosling, you'll discover the power of being able to use data to understand the underlying patterns of the world. You'll recognize the obfuscations so that, presented with a set of facts, you can see for yourself what's really going on. You'll take joy in discovering the truth that is waiting there in the data. Within a very short time you see how easy it is to think for yourself. He provides a simple checklist to let you see what is really going on, so you can see past the tricks that politicians and pundits might use to bamboozle you. In fact it's as dumb as saying, "It's possible to lie, so you should never believe anything." What Tim Harford does here is show you how not to be lied to. We all know the kind of person who says, "Oh, you can prove anything with statistics," and they suppose that cynicism makes them seem smart. This book could be called: "How Not To Be Fooled" As a result, The Data Detective is a big-idea book about statistics and human behavior that is fresh, unexpected, and insightful. In The Data Detective, he uses new research in science and psychology to set out ten strategies for using statistics to erase our biases and replace them with new ideas that use virtues like patience, curiosity, and good sense to better understand ourselves and the world. We shouldn’t be suspicious of statistics-we need to understand what they mean and how they can improve our lives: they are, at heart, human behavior seen through the prism of numbers and are often “the only way of grasping much of what is going on around us.” If we can toss aside our fears and learn to approach them clearly-understanding how our own preconceptions lead us astray-statistics can point to ways we can live better and work smarter.Īs “perhaps the best popular economics writer in the world” (New Statesman), Tim Harford is an expert at taking complicated ideas and untangling them for millions of readers. That’s a mistake, Tim Harford says in The Data Detective. Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us.
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